Fake policeman who raped and robbed sex workers jailed

A man who posed as a policeman to rape and rob two Brazilian sex workers in London has been jailed.

Pawel Pazola threatened to arrest and deport the women before trying to force them to have unprotected sex during two separate attacks.

In September, he was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of robbery and one count of impersonating a police officer.

The 51-year-old, of Crawley, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Sentencing him at a Nightingale court in Hendon, Judge Andrew Holmes described Pazola as a "dangerous sexual predator".

"You have brought shame on yourself. You do not appear to acknowledge that," he said.

Pazola arranged sexual services with both victims, who did not know each other beforehand, using an escort website.

During both attacks, Pazola pretended to be a police officer and threatened the victims before raping them.

During the second attack, he used a fake police badge and an imitation firearm. As well as taking back £200 he had initially paid one of them for the services, he also stole another £300 which the sex worker had earned.

Pazola forced the first victim, aged in her 20s, to engage in sex without a condom on 7 August 2020 in Camden, north London.

However, she did not want to report the attack out of fear of being arrested. Instead, she contacted a community support worker through a non-governmental organisation who helped her report the attack to police.

She also shared what had happened to her on a WhatsApp group for other Brazilian sex workers working in the UK and was later informed that a very similar incident had happened to another woman.

On 22 August, Pazola met up with his second victim, another woman in her 20s, at a flat in Bayswater, west London. An agreement was made and again Mr Pazola forced the victim to engage in non-consensual sex.

The first victim encouraged the second to report this assault to police, urging her that it would be taken seriously, and she did so five days later.

Detectives identified the phone number Pazola used to book the appointments and used digital and forensic evidence to arrest him in Crawley on 30 August.

During searches officers found an imitation police badge, a black replica handgun and £1,380 in cash.

The judge praised the courage of the complainants to come forward and and the police for their work.

Det Sgt Sam Lockstone said: "Our approach is not to criminalise the sex workers involved but to safeguard and support them, and build mutual trust and confidence to encourage the sharing of information to improve safety."

Det Con Barbara Siembida encouraged victims of such crimes to speak to police, adding that, despite initial fears, their immigration status is "immaterial to the investigation".

In addition to his jail sentence, Pazola, who was also convicted of one count of possession of an imitation firearm, will spend four years on licence.

Additional reporting by Harry Low